Gem pattern matching algorithm to determine the percentage match of a target gem pattern to a database of gem patterns

ABSTRACT

A method and gem pattern matching technique to analyze a target gemstone by analyzing a pattern created by transmitting a light source such as a laser beam through the gemstone to create a visual optical pattern and comparing the pattern to a database of known gemstone patterns to determine the percentage likelihood that the target gemstone will match a gemstone in the database. The matching is based on the weight of the heaviest spot in the pattern and its location in the gemstone image and comparing it to the weight and location of the heaviest spots in each gemstone image in the database to determine a percentage matching.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of gem recognition bydetermining a specific pattern created by transmitting a beam of lightsuch as from a laser beam into a gemstone and recording the refractionpattern emitted by the gemstone in order to identify a particulargemstone.

2. Description of the Prior Art

While techniques to determine a given refraction pattern of a gemstoneare known in the prior art, the present inventor is not aware of anyalgorithm which utilizes a refraction pattern obtained from a specificgemstone and compares it to a database of refraction patterns of knowngemstones to determine a percentage match of the target gemstonecompared to the database of known patterns.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method and gem pattern matching technique toanalyze a target gemstone by analyzing a pattern created by transmittinga light source such as a laser beam into the gemstone to create arefracted digital pattern and comparing that pattern to a database ofknown gemstone digital patterns to determine the percentage likelihoodthat the target gemstone will match a gemstone in the database. Thematching is based on the area of the largest spot in each of 96 definedconcentric, circular bands of the refracted digital pattern from thetarget gemstone and the clockwise angle of each of the identifiedlargest spots relative to the designated origin angle in the targetgemstone digital pattern and comparing the area and clockwise angle foreach concentric band in the target gemstone digital pattern to the areaand clockwise angle of the largest spots in each of the 96 concentricbands for each gemstone digital pattern in the database. Upon theoccurrence of a match of the area and clockwise angle in a concentricband between the target gemstone and a database gemstone, the matchingcontinues with a comparison of the entire gemstone digital pattern ofthe target gemstone and the corresponding database gemstone digitalpattern, resulting in a percentage match of the digital bits for eachdatabase gemstone digital pattern as compared to the target gemstonedigital patterns.

It has been discovered, according to the present invention, that a veryefficient way to store records of gemstones for future verification andauthentication is to create a database of derivative information fromeach known gemstone digital pattern, which includes the area andclockwise angle for the largest spot in each of the concentric bandsalong with a normalized digital pattern for each of the concentricbands.

It has further been discovered, according to the present invention, thatthe optimum database for matching each gemstone digital pattern is adatabase of pre-processed derivative information for each such gemstonecreated by calculating the radius from the center of each gemstonedigital pattern to the center of each spot in such pattern, normalizingeach radius to an integer form 0 to 96 and thus creating 96 concentriccircle bands beginning at the center of each gemstone digital pattern,calculating the area of each spot in each concentric band and selectingthe one spot with the largest area within each concentric band,calculating the clockwise angle of the largest spot in each concentricband relative to the designated origin angle, rotating the gemstonedigital pattern counterclockwise by the same angle as the clockwiseangle of the largest spot in each concentric band of a digital patternso that the largest spot is aligned with the origin angle, normalizingthe entire gemstone digital pattern also rotated in association witheach largest spot in each concentric band down from 512 by 512 pixels to64 by 64 pixels and storing the information for each gemstone digitalpattern, and for each concentric band for such gemstone digital patternthe area and clockwise angle to the origin angle and the rotated andnormalized gemstone digital pattern in a relational database associatedwith each gemstone digital pattern.

It has also been discovered according to the present invention, that thedetermination of whether a target gemstone is likely to be a specificgemstone from a known database of gemstones can be achieved based on atwo phase matching process, the first phase of such process is tocompare the pre-processed derivative information associated with theradius of the largest spot, if any, for each concentric band of adigital pattern from the target gemstone with the same pre-processedderivative information of each of the database gemstones, identifyingfor each database gemstone the match, if any, of the radius of thelargest spot, if any, for each concentric band. The second phase of suchprocess is to compare the pre-processed derivative informationassociated with the rotated and normalized gemstone digital pattern foreach concentric band of the target gemstone as applicable with the samepre-processed derivative information for each of the database gemstonesand related concentric bands for which there is a match of the radiusfor any concentric band from the target gemstone with each databasegemstone as determined from phase one of such process, resulting in aset of rotated and normalized gemstone digital patterns for eachdatabase gemstone-concentric band combination where there is a match ofthe radius of the target gemstone-concentric band combination with eachdatabase gemstone-concentric band combination of the same radius.

It has additionally been discovered, according to the present inventionthat after the identification of the set of rotated and normalizedgemstone digital patterns for each database gemstone-concentric bandcombination that matches the target gemstone-concentric band combinationas described above compares the rotated and normalized target gemstonedigital pattern for each concentric band with the selected databasegemstone-concentric band digital pattern by overlapping the two digitalimages and identifying the binary bits in both images that are “on” forthe identical x-y coordinates in such images, calculating the percentagematch by dividing the matching “on” bits by the smaller of the number of“on” bits from either the target gemstone digital pattern for therelevant concentric band or the database gemstone-concentric banddigital pattern that is the subject of the match, and for each databasegemstone, identifying the largest percentage match as calculated foreach selected gemstone-concentric band combination and storing thelargest percentage match in a results list associating each percentagematch with an identification ID for each database gemstone for futurelocation.

It is an object of the present invention to generate for each gemstone aderivative set of normalized gemstone digital images wherein the imagesinclude a spot pattern generated by a refraction pattern which resultsfrom a beam of light transmitted through a gemstone. The set of digitalimages also includes a rotated and normalized image associated with thelargest spot each as applicable in each of 96 concentric bands from eachgiven gemstone digital pattern including the x-y coordinates, a radiusand a clockwise angle.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method tocompare a target gemstone digital image using its derivative informationof the normalized radius of the largest spot and the rotated andnormalized entire digital image pattern associated with such spot fromeach of the applicable 96 concentric bands to the pre-processedderivative information of the radius of the largest spot and rotated andnormalized digital image pattern associated with such spot from each ofthe applicable 96 concentric bands related to the database of knowngemstone digital images and matching the target gemstone normalizeddigital image pattern to each of the database gemstone digitalnormalized image patterns obtaining a percentage match for each of thedatabase gemstone digital images.

Further novel features and other objects of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description, discussion andthe appended claims, taken in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring particularly to the drawings for the purpose of illustrationonly and not limitation, there is illustrated:

FIG. 1 is a sample gemstone pattern created by transmitting a light beamsuch as a laser into a gemstone and recording the pattern to obtain arecord of the light refraction pattern of that target gemstone;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of drawing a rectangle around a spot in thedigital gem refraction pattern;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of how the largest radius for the gem patternis determined;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of determining a clockwise angle for a spot inthe gem refraction pattern;

FIG. 5A is a computer flowchart for the present invention method ofgemstone pattern recognition technique to calculate the match percentagefor each gemstone digital patterns from a database of known gemstonesagainst an input target gemstone digital pattern, with FIG. 5Apresenting a flowchart to create a database of pre-processed gemstoneimages; and

FIG. 5B is a continuation flowchart from FIG. 5A, setting forth theroutine to determine the percentage that a target gemstone will match toa database gemstone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Although specific embodiments of the present invention will now bedescribed with reference to the drawings, it should be understood thatsuch embodiments are by way of example only and merely illustrative ofbut a small number of the many possible specific embodiments which canrepresent applications of the principles of the present invention.Various changes and modifications obvious to one skilled in the art towhich the present invention pertains are deemed to be within the spirit,scope and contemplation of the present invention as further defined inthe appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a spot pattern of a gemstoneobtained by causing a beam of light such as a laser beam to betransmitted into a gemstone and recording the refractive pattern on amedium which permits a permanent record of the pattern to be created. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the optical pattern of the gemstone is a twodimensional pattern which is comprised of a multiplicity of spots. Byway of example, the pattern illustrated in FIG. 1 is a refractionpattern of a laser beam transmitted into a polished diamond. Therefraction pattern is projected on a white screen and a digital camerais used to take a picture of the pattern and with associated softwarethe image is stored in a database. By way of example, the opticalpattern for each gemstone is a refraction pattern obtained by shining abeam of light into the gemstone and causing the refraction pattern toappear as a two dimensional image which is then photographed and stored.

The two dimensional digital refraction pattern image of the gemstone asillustrated in FIG. 1 has an X axis and a Y axis with a multiplicity ofspots of various sizes and shapes and locations at various X-Y positionson the image. The gemstone digital image as depicted in FIG. 1 ismonochrome with a length “L” of 512 pixels and a height “H” of 512pixels.

Referring to FIG. 2, for each spot “S” of the refraction pattern imageas illustrated in FIG. 1, a rectangle “RT” is drawn around the spot. Therectangle “RT” is an attempt to envelope the spot “S” so that the entirespot “S” which has an irregular pattern is within the rectangle “RT”. Asset forth in the flow chart of FIG. 5A, the first step in thepre-processing routine is to locate each spot in the refraction patternby using an extraction algorithm. After a rectangle is drawn around eachspot in the pattern, a calculation is made to determine the x-y positionof the spot on the refraction pattern and in particular the x-y locationof the center of gravity and weight of each spot. The center of gravityfor a spot is at the center of the rectangle drawn around the spot. Theweight is the size of the spot which is approximated as the area of therectangle drawn around the spot.

The maximum radius of the refraction pattern is then determined.Referring to FIG. 3, the maximum radius MR is from the center “C” of therefraction pattern to a corner of the refraction pattern. With thelength and height of the refraction pattern each being 512 pixels, thelength and height of the center “C” is half this amount or 256 pixels by256 pixels. The maximum radius is the hypotenuse of the triangle createdby the length, height and maximum radius. Using the standard formula “a”squared+“b’ squared=“c” squared where “a” and “b” are each 256 pixels,the maximum radius is 362 pixels.

The next step in the routine is to compute the radius for each spot inthe refraction pattern wherein the radius of a spot is the distance fromthe center of the spot to the center “C” of the refraction pattern.Based on the maximum radius, it has been determined that the radii ofthe spots should be normalized to an integer between 0 and 96.Therefore, after the radius of each spot is calculated, the radius isnormalized by dividing the radius by four (4). Referring the FIG. 5, theradius for each spot is calculated and normalized to an integer between0 and 96, and the normalized radii are stored in a Rad_List.

After the Rad_List is completed, the next step is to determine theheaviest spot for each radius. The heaviest spot is the one with thelargest area rectangle around it. The next step in the routine is todetermine the angle of the heaviest spot for each radius. The angle ofthe spot is relative to a zero angle and the location of the spot basedon the radius of the spot relative to the center of the refractionpattern. Referring to FIG. 4, the zero angle is at a 3 o'clock position.The angle alpha (α) is the angle from the zero position clockwise to thelocation of the spot. For the given refraction pattern of the gemstonebeing examined, the heaviest spot is located and radius “R” comprisingthe angle alpha (α) relative to the zero angle. Then using a nearestneighbor algorithm, the image of the entire refraction pattern in a512×512 pixel image is rotated by the complement of angle alpha (α) sothat the heaviest spot is at the zero angle location. Ideally, only themost significant spot or spots are processed in this manner. In theorythere could be a maximum of 96 such spots in each refraction pattern butusually there are only 50 or fewer spots processed in this manner foreach refraction pattern.

In order to save space, the 512 by 512 pixel image is normalized bydividing each dimension by 8 so that the image size is reduced to 64 by64 pixels. Then for each radius R the location of the x and y position,of the heaviest spot, the angle alpha (α) and the rotated and normalizedrefraction pattern are stored and referred to as a Shadow Image. TheShadow Images are referred to as the input Pre-Processed Image PPI_i.

To determine the percentage that a target gemstone will match to thedatabase gemstones, the target gemstone Pre-Processed Image is comparedto each pre-processed image from the database gemstones in a specifiedand phased process to maximize the speed of the match. The routine isillustrated on the flow chart of FIG. 5B. The database of allpre-processed images is referred to as PPI_m List as all of the databaseimages are in the computer memory. The matching routine first comparesthe radius of the target gemstone pre-processed image with each of theRadii of the database gemstone pre-processed images in the memory. Theroutine finds the matching Radii in PPI_m as compared to PPI_i andstores them in an R_m List. The R_m List is the list of matching Radiifrom the target gemstone image to the Radii in the memory database ofthe single database gemstone image for this repetition of this firststep.

The next step is to compare the normalized 64×64 pixels images from thetarget gemstone pre-processed image PPI_i for each of the matching Radiiin the R_m List with the corresponding 64×64 pixel images from PPI_m foreach matching Radii from the R_m List for the single database gemstoneimage for this repetition of this second step. In this second step, each64×64 pixel image associated with a matching Radii from the R_m Listfrom the target gemstone image labeled NI_i and is compared to the 64×64pixel image associated with the matching Radii from the R_m List fromthe memory database of the single database gemstone image labeled NI_m.Each of the images NI_i and NI_m contain binary bits which are either“on” or “off”. The comparison matches each “on bit” in the same x-ycoordinate in both NI_I and NI_M resulting in the matching on bits NI_cand calculating the number of such matching “on bits” as B_c. Thepercentage of match for each matching Radii, labeled as MP, iscalculated by dividing the numerator B_c by the divisor which is thesmaller of the total “on bits” in (a) NI_I, labeled as B_i or (b) NI_M,labeled as B_m. The final match percentage, labeled as MP_f, for eachsingle database gemstone image in PPI_m List is the largest MP for allof the matching Radii in R M List.

The final step is to store the specific identification of a subject fromthe PPI_m List in an array in a direct association with a fixedreference in the array from 0 to 100 in one unit increments where suchfixed reference is equal to the MP_f for each such pre-processed imagefrom the database gemstones as listed in PPI_m List. This technique isused to get rid of the need to sort a huge size array at the end of thesearch.

The present invention method provides a check that the matching memberidentification provides confirmation is the subject stone is correlatedto a matching image from the database of images of known stones.

The percentage match of the target gemstone image to the known databaseof gemstone images provides a decision method to determine if the targetgemstone is the gemstone sought to be identified for purposes ofconfirming a stolen gemstone or confirming a valuation for the gemstone.As a general rule, if the final match percentage MP_f is 70% or greater,it is a probable match. If it below 50%, then it probably is not amatch.

For purposes of implementing the present invention, the equipmentrequired is an optical scanner and associated software. The hardware caninclude a PC desktop or laptop with Windows XP or 2000 Pentium III (orequivalent) Processor, 512 MB of RAM, 10 GB of Hard Drive space,although more memory may be required depending on the size of thedatabase of gemstones. Two (2) available USB ports and Internetconnectivity.

By way of example, for each specific spot refraction image asillustrated in FIG. 1, the information about the image may include thefollowing information about a gemstone such as a diamond: Polished IDnumber, Polished weight. The database stored on the server could includethe identification number of the company recording the pattern, thePolished ID number, the Polished weight, the date the data was enteredand a unique identification number assigned by the software thatassociates with the specific recorded pattern.

A polished diamond grading document and certificate of authenticity mayaccompany each gemstone in the database.

Therefore the present invention is a method of providing a patternrecognition technique to determine the percentage match of a targetgemstone pattern to a database of known gemstone patterns associatedwith given gemstones.

Defined generally, the present invention is a method and gem patternmatching technique to analyze a target gemstone comprising: (a)analyzing a pattern of a target gemstone created by transmitting a lightsource into the gemstone to create a refracted digital pattern andcomparing that pattern to a database of known gemstone digital patternsto determine the percentage likelihood that the target gemstone willmatch a gemstone in the database; (b) the matching is based on an areaof a largest spot in each of 96 defined concentric, circular bands ofthe refracted digital pattern from the target gemstone and a clockwiseangle of each of the identified largest spots relative to a designatedorigin angle in the target gemstone digital pattern and comparing thearea and clockwise angle for each concentric band in the target gemstonedigital pattern to the area and clockwise angle of the largest spot ineach of the 96 concentric bands for each gemstone digital pattern in thedatabase; and (c) upon the occurrence of a match of the area andclockwise angle in a concentric band between the target gemstone and adatabase gemstone, the matching continues with a comparison of theentire gemstone digital pattern of the target gemstone and thecorresponding database gemstone digital patterns, resulting in apercentage match of the digital bits for each database gemstone digitalpattern as compared to the target gemstone digital pattern.

Also defined generally, the present invention is a gem pattern matchingtechnique comprising; (a) creating a gemstone database of pre-processedderivative information for each gemstone in the database created bycalculating a radius from a-center of each gemstone digital pattern to acenter of each spot in such pattern; (b) normalizing each radius to aninteger form 0 to 96 and thereby creating 96 concentric circle bandsbeginning at the center of each gemstone digital pattern; (c)calculating an area of each spot in each concentric band and selectingone spot with the largest area within each concentric band; (d)calculating a clockwise angle of the largest spot in each concentricband relative to a designated origin angle and rotating the gemstonedigital pattern counterclockwise by the same angle as the clockwiseangle of the largest spot in each concentric band so that the largestspot is aligned with the origin angle; (e) normalizing the entiregemstone digital pattern also rotated in association with each largestspot in each concentric band down from 512 by 512 pixels to 64 by 64pixels and storing the information for each gemstone digital pattern;(f) storing in the database information on each concentric band for eachgemstone digital pattern including the area and clockwise angle to theorigin angle and the rotated and normalized gemstone digital patternassociated with each gemstone digital pattern; and (g) comparinginformation from a target gemstone to the information in the database ofgemstones to arrive at a percentage match from the target gemstone tothe database of gemstones.

Defined broadly, the present invention is a method to determine whethera target gemstone is likely to be a specific gemstone from a knowndatabase of gem stones comprising: (a) a first phase which is comparingpre-processed derivative information associated with a radius of alargest spot, if any, for each concentric band of a digital pattern froma target gemstone with the same pre-processed derivative information ofeach gemstone in a database of gemstones, identifying for each databasegemstone the match, if any, of the radius of the largest spot, if any,for each concentric band; and (b) a second phase which is to comparepre-processed derivative information associated with the rotated andnormalized gemstone digital pattern for each concentric band of thetarget gemstone as applicable with the same preprocessed derivativeinformation for each of the database gemstones and related concentricbands for which there is a match of the radius for any concentric bandfrom the target gemstone with each database gemstone as determined fromthe first phase, resulting in a set of rotated and normalized gemstonedigital patterns for each database gemstone-concentric band combinationwhere there is a match of the radius of the target gemstone-concentricband combination with each database gemstone-concentric band combinationof the same radius.

Also defined broadly, the present invention is a gemstone matchingtechnique comprising: (a) generating for each gemstone a derivative setof normalized gemstone digital images wherein the images include a spotpattern generated by a refraction pattern which results from a beam oflight transmitted through each gemstone, the set of digital images alsoincluding a rotated and normalized image associated with the largestspot for each gemstone in each of 96 concentric bands from each givengemstone digital pattern including the x-y coordinates, a radius and aclockwise angle from a zero reference position, to thereby form adatabase of information about gemstones; and (b) matching theinformation from a target gemstone to the database of information aboutgemstones to determine the percentage match of the target gemstone to agemstone in the database of digital images.

Defined even more broadly, the present invention is a method of gemstonematching comprising: (a) comparing a target gemstone digital image usingits derivative information of a normalized radius of a largest spot, anda rotated and normalized entire digital image pattern associated withthe largest spot from each of 96 applicable concentric bands to apre-processed derivative information of a radius of the largest spot,and rotated and normalized digital image pattern associated with suchspot from each of the applicable 96 concentric bands related to adatabase of known gemstone digital images; and (b) matching the targetgemstone normalized digital image pattern to each of the databasegemstone digital normalized image patterns and obtaining a percentagematch for each of the database gemstone digital images.

Defined in detail, the present invention is a pattern recognitiontechnique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone imageto a database of known gemstone images, comprising: (a) for each of amultiplicity of gemstones, obtaining an optical pattern which displays amultiplicity of spots on an “x” and “y” monochrome image having adimension of 512 pixels by 512 pixels, utilizing an extraction algorithmto calculate the “x’ and “y” coordinate of each spot, calculating aradius for each spot which is the distance from a center of the image tothe center of the spot and calculating the weight of the spot,normalizing the radius for each spot to an integer from 0 to 96 andstoring the normalized image in a database, locating the heaviest spotbased on weight in each optical image and computing the radius of theheaviest spot and calculating an angle of the heaviest spot relative ahorizontal “x” axis, rotating the image by the angle so that theheaviest spot lies along the horizontal “x” axis, normalizing the imageto 64 pixels and 64 pixels and storing the x, y, radius and anglelocation for the heaviest spot in a database, and repeating this processfor each gemstone to accumulate a database of pre-processed images; (b)selecting a target gemstone and obtaining an optical image of the targetgemstone and comparing the heaviest spot in the target image to theheaviest spots in the pre-processed image data base to locate matchingheaviest spots at matching radii, normalizing the matched images to 64pixels by 64 pixels, converting the matching radii for matching heaviestspot to binary “on” data, calculating the number of “on” bits in thematching radii to generate a matching target bit count and dividing itby the smaller of either the number of input “on” bits or input “off”bits to arrive at a final match percentage for the target and storingthe match percentage in a results list and assigning an identificationnumber to that matching percentage; and (c) determining if the matchpercentage is sufficiently high to determine if the target gemstonematches a gemstone in the database of known gemstones.

Defined more broadly, the present invention is a pattern recognitiontechnique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone imageto a database of known gemstone images, comprising: (a) for each of amultiplicity of gemstones, obtaining an optical pattern which displays amultiplicity of spots on an “x” and “y” two dimensional image, utilizingan extraction algorithm to calculate the “x’ and “y” coordinate of eachspot, calculating a radius for each spot which is the distance from acenter of the image to the center of the spot and calculating the weightof the spot, locating the heaviest spot based on weight in each opticalimage and computing the radius of the heaviest spot and calculating anangle of the heaviest spot relative a horizontal “x” axis, rotating theimage by the angle so that the heaviest spot lies along the horizontal“x” axis, and storing the x, y, radius and angle location for theheaviest spot in a database, and repeating this process for eachgemstone to accumulate a database of pre-processed images; (b) selectinga target gemstone and obtaining an optical image of the target gemstoneand comparing the heaviest spot in the target image to the heaviestspots in the pre-processed image data base to locate matching heaviestspots at matching radii, and the matching radii to arrive at a finalmatch percentage for the target and storing the match percentage in aresults list and assigning an identification number to that matchingpercentage; and (c) determining if the match percentage is sufficientlyhigh to determine if the target gemstone matches a gemstone in thedatabase of known gemstones.

Defined even more broadly, the present invention is a patternrecognition technique to calculate the match percentage of an inputgemstone image to a database of known gemstone images, comprising: (a)generating a database of normalized gemstone images wherein the imagesinclude a spot pattern generated by a refraction pattern which resultsfrom a beam of light transmitted through a gemstone, the databaseincluding a normalized image for the heaviest spot based on weight ineach given gemstone pattern including the location of the heaviest spot,the location being the x and y coordinate of the heaviest spot, theradius from the center of the image to the center of the heaviest spotand the angle of the heaviest spot relative to horizontal, the anglebeing either in the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction; and (b)providing a method to compare a target gemstone image using the weightand location of its heaviest spot and comparing it to the pre-processeddatabase of images of the heaviest spots of the gemstones in thedatabase and matching the correspondence of the weight of the heaviestspots and their respective locations in each image of the database tothe weight of the heaviest spot and location of the heaviest spot in thetarget image and obtaining a percentage match of the target gemstoneimage to the gemstone images in the database.

Defined even more broadly, the present invention is a patternrecognition technique to calculate the match percentage of an inputgemstone image to a database of known gemstone images, comprising: (a)generating a database of gemstone images wherein the images include aspot pattern in an optical image of the gemstone, the database includingan image for the heaviest spot based on weight in each given gemstonepattern including the location of heaviest spot, the location being thex and y coordinate of the heaviest spot, the radius from the center ofthe image to the center of the heaviest spot and the angle of theheaviest spot relative to horizontal, the angle being either in theclockwise or counter-clockwise direction; and (b) providing a method tocompare a target gemstone image using the weight and location of itsheaviest spot and comparing it to the pre-processed database of imagesof the heaviest spots of the gemstones in the database and matching thecorrespondence of the weight of the heaviest spots and their respectivelocations in each image of the database to the weight of the heaviestspot and location of the heaviest spot in the target image and obtaininga percentage match of the target gemstone image to the gemstone imagesin the database.

Defined most broadly, the present invention is a pattern recognitiontechnique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone imageto a database of known gemstone images, comprising: (a) generating adatabase of gemstone images wherein the images include a spot pattern inan optical image of the gemstone, the database including an image forthe heaviest spot including the location of heaviest spot in the opticalimage; and (b) providing a method to compare a target gemstone imageusing the location of its heaviest spot and comparing it to thepre-processed database of images of the heaviest spots of the gemstonesin the database and matching the correspondence of the heaviest spotsand their respective locations in each image of the database to thelocation of the heaviest spot in the target image and obtaining apercentage match of the target gemstone image to the gemstone images inthe database.

Of course the present invention is not intended to be restricted to anyparticular form or arrangement, or any specific embodiment, or anyspecific use, disclosed herein, since the same may be modified invarious particulars or relations without departing from the spirit orscope of the claimed invention hereinabove shown and described of whichthe apparatus or method shown is intended only for illustration anddisclosure of an operative embodiment and not to show all of the variousforms or modifications in which this invention might be embodied oroperated.

1. A method and gem pattern matching technique to analyze a target gemstone comprising: a. analyzing a pattern of a target gemstone created by transmitting a light source into the gemstone to create a refracted digital pattern and comparing that pattern to a database of known gemstone digital patterns to determine the percentage likelihood that the target gemstone will match a gemstone in the database; b. the matching is based on an area of a largest spot in each of 96 defined concentric, circular bands of the refracted digital pattern from the target gemstone and a clockwise angle of each of the identified largest spots relative to a designated origin angle in the target gemstone digital pattern and comparing the area and clockwise angle for each concentric band in the target gemstone digital pattern to the area and clockwise angle of the largest spot in each of the 96 concentric bands for each gemstone digital pattern in the database; and c. upon the occurrence of a match of the area and clockwise angle in a concentric band between the target gemstone and a database gemstone, the matching continues with a comparison of the entire gemstone digital pattern of the target gemstone and the corresponding database gemstone digital patterns, resulting in a percentage match of the digital bits for each database gemstone digital pattern as compared to the target gemstone digital pattern.
 2. A gem pattern matching technique comprising; a. creating a gemstone database of pre-processed derivative information for each gemstone in the database created by calculating a radius from a center of each gemstone digital pattern to a center of each spot in such pattern; b. normalizing each radius to an integer form 0 to 96 and thereby creating 96 concentric circle bands beginning at the center of each gemstone digital pattern; c. calculating an area of each spot in each concentric band and selecting one spot with the largest area within each concentric band; d. calculating a clockwise angle of the largest spot in each concentric band relative to a designated origin angle and rotating the gemstone digital pattern counterclockwise by the same angle as the clockwise angle of the largest spot in each concentric band so that the largest spot is aligned with the origin angle; e. normalizing the entire gemstone digital pattern also rotated in association with each largest spot in each concentric band down from 512 by 512 pixels to 64 by 64 pixels and storing the information for each gemstone digital pattern; f. storing in the database information on each concentric band for each gemstone digital pattern including the area and clockwise angle to the origin angle and the rotated and normalized gemstone digital pattern associated with each gemstone digital pattern; and g. comparing information from a target gemstone to the information in the database of gemstones to arrive at a percentage match from the target gemstone to the database of gemstones.
 3. A method to determine whether a target gemstone is likely to be a specific gemstone from a known database of gemstones comprising: a. a first phase which is comparing pre-processed derivative information associated with a radius of a largest spot, if any, for each concentric band of a digital pattern from a target gemstone with the same pre-processed derivative information of each gemstone in a database of gemstones, identifying for each database gemstone the match, if any, of the radius of the largest spot, if any, for each concentric band; and b. a second phase which is to compare pre-processed derivative information associated with the rotated and normalized gemstone digital pattern for each concentric band of the target gemstone as applicable with the same pre-processed derivative information for each of the database gemstones and related concentric bands for which there is a match of the radius for any concentric band from the target gemstone with each database gemstone as determined from the first phase, resulting in a set of rotated and normalized gemstone digital patterns for each database gemstone-concentric band combination where there is a match of the radius of the target gemstone-concentric band combination with each database gemstone-concentric band combination of the same radius.
 4. The method in accordance with claim 3 further comprising: a. after the identification of the set of rotated and normalized gemstone digital patterns for each database gemstone-concentric band combination that matches the target gemstone-concentric band combination has been achieved, generating a pattern recognition algorithm which compares the rotated and normalized target gemstone digital pattern for each concentric band with the selected database gemstone-concentric band digital pattern by overlapping the two digital images and identifying binary bits in both images that are “on” for the identical x-y coordinates in such images, calculating the percentage match by dividing the matching “on” bits by the smaller of the number of “on” bits from either the target gemstone digital pattern for the relevant concentric band or the database gemstone-concentric band digital pattern that is the subject of the match; and b. for each database gemstone, identifying the largest percentage match as calculated for each selected gemstone-concentric band combination and storing the largest percentage match in a results list associated with each percentage match with an identification ID for each database gemstone for future location.
 5. A gemstone matching technique comprising: a. generating for each gemstone a derivative set of normalized gemstone digital images wherein the images include a spot pattern generated by a refraction pattern which results from a beam of light transmitted through each gemstone, the set of digital images also including a rotated and normalized image associated with the largest spot for each gemstone in each of 96 concentric bands from each given gemstone digital pattern including the x-y coordinates, a radius and a clockwise angle from a zero reference position, to thereby form a database of information about gemstones; and b. matching the information from a target gemstone to the database of information about gemstones to determine the percentage match of the target gemstone to a gemstone in the database of digital images.
 6. A method of gemstone matching comprising: a. comparing a target gemstone digital image using its derivative information of a normalized radius of a largest spot, and a rotated and normalized entire digital image pattern associated with the largest spot from each of 96 applicable concentric bands to a pre-processed derivative information of a radius of the largest spot, and rotated and normalized digital image pattern associated with such spot from each of the applicable 96 concentric bands related to a database of known gemstone digital images; and b. matching the target gemstone normalized digital image pattern to each of the database gemstone digital normalized image patterns and obtaining a percentage match for each of the database gemstone digital images.
 7. A pattern recognition technique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone image to a database of known gemstone images, comprising: a. for each of a multiplicity of gemstones, obtaining an optical pattern which displays a multiplicity of spots on an “x” and “y” monochrome image having a dimension of 512 pixels by 512 pixels, utilizing an extraction algorithm to calculate the “x’ and “y” coordinate of each spot, calculating a radius for each spot which is the distance from a center of the image to the center of the spot and calculating the weight of the spot, normalizing the radius for each spot to an integer from 0 to 96 and storing the normalized image in a database, locating the heaviest spot based on weight in each optical image and computing the radius of the heaviest spot and calculating an angle of the heaviest spot relative a horizontal “x” axis, rotating the image by the angle so that the heaviest spot lies along the horizontal “x” axis, normalizing the image to 64 pixels and 64 pixels and storing the x, y, radius and angle location for the heaviest spot in a database, and repeating this process for each gemstone to accumulate a database of pre-processed images; b. selecting a target gemstone and obtaining an optical image of the target gemstone and comparing the heaviest spot in the target image to the heaviest spots in the pre-processed image data base to locate matching heaviest spots at matching radii, normalizing the matched images to 64 pixels by 64 pixels, converting the matching radii for matching heaviest spot to binary “on” data, calculating the number of “on” bits in the matching radii to generate a matching target bit count and dividing it by the smaller of either the number of input “on” bits or input “off” bits to arrive at a final match percentage for the target and storing the match percentage in a results list and assigning an identification number to that matching percentage; and c. determining if the match percentage is sufficiently high to determine if the target gemstone matches a gemstone in the database of known gemstones.
 8. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein the weight and center of the spot is determined by drawing a rectangle around the spot and the center of the rectangle is the center of the spot and the area of rectangle is the weight of the spot.
 9. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein the optical pattern for each gemstone is a refraction pattern obtained by shining a beam of light through the gemstone and causing the refraction pattern to appear as a two dimensional image which is then photographed and stored.
 10. A pattern recognition technique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone image to a database of known gemstone images, comprising: a. for each of a multiplicity of gemstones, obtaining an optical pattern which displays a multiplicity of spots on an “x” and “y” two dimensional image, utilizing an extraction algorithm to calculate the “x’ and “y” coordinate of each spot, calculating a radius for each spot which is the distance from a center of the image to the center of the spot and calculating the weight of the spot, locating the heaviest spot based on weight in each optical image and computing the radius of the heaviest spot and calculating an angle of the heaviest spot relative a horizontal “x” axis, rotating the image by the angle so that the heaviest spot lies along the horizontal “x” axis, and storing the x, y, radius and angle location for the heaviest spot in a database, and repeating this process for each gemstone to accumulate a database of pre-processed images; b. selecting a target gemstone and obtaining an optical image of the target gemstone and comparing the heaviest spot in the target image to the heaviest spots in the pre-processed image data base to locate matching heaviest spots at matching radii, and the matching radii to arrive at a final match percentage for the target and storing the match percentage in a results list and assigning an identification number to that matching percentage; and c. determining if the match percentage is sufficiently high to determine if the target gemstone matches a gemstone in the database of known gemstones.
 11. A pattern recognition technique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone image to a database of known gemstone images, comprising: a. generating a database of normalized gemstone images wherein the images include a spot pattern generated by a refraction pattern which results from a beam of light transmitted through a gemstone, the database including a normalized image for the heaviest spot based on weight in each given gemstone pattern including the location of the heaviest spot, the location being the x and y coordinate of the heaviest spot, the radius from the center of the image to the center of the heaviest spot and the angle of the heaviest spot relative to horizontal, the angle being either in the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction; and b. providing a method to compare a target gemstone image using the weight and location of its heaviest spot and comparing it to the pre-processed database of images of the heaviest spots of the gemstones in the database and matching the correspondence of the weight of the heaviest spots and their respective locations in each image of the database to the weight of the heaviest spot and location of the heaviest spot in the target image and obtaining a percentage match of the target gemstone image to the gemstone images in the database.
 12. A pattern recognition technique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone image to a database of known gemstone images, comprising: a. generating a database of gemstone images wherein the images include a spot pattern in an optical image of the gemstone, the database including an image for the heaviest spot based on weight in each given gemstone pattern including the location of heaviest spot, the location being the x and y coordinate of the heaviest spot, the radius from the center of the image to the center of the heaviest spot and the angle of the heaviest spot relative to horizontal, the angle being either in the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction; and b. providing a method to compare a target gemstone image using the weight and location of its heaviest spot and comparing it to the pre-processed database of images of the heaviest spots of the gemstones in the database and matching the correspondence of the weight of the heaviest spots and their respective locations in each image of the database to the weight of the heaviest spot and location of the heaviest spot in the target image and obtaining a percentage match of the target gemstone image to the gemstone images in the database.
 13. A pattern recognition technique to calculate the match percentage of an input gemstone image to a database of known gemstone images, comprising: a. generating a database of gemstone images wherein the images include a spot pattern in an optical image of the gemstone, the database including an image for the heaviest spot including the location of heaviest spot in the optical image; and b. providing a method to compare a target gemstone image using the location of its heaviest spot and comparing it to the pre-processed database of images of the heaviest spots of the gemstones in the database and matching the correspondence of the heaviest spots and their respective locations in each image of the database to the location of the heaviest spot in the target image and obtaining a percentage match of the target gemstone image to the gemstone images in the database. 